Captain Ed is a father and grandfather living in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, a native Californian who moved to the North Star State because of the weather. He lives with his wife Marcia, also known as the First Mate, their two dogs, and frequently watch their granddaughter Kayla, whom Captain Ed calls The Little Admiral... [read more]

The cease-fire agreement appears to have created a crisis in Lebanon's government, as a Cabinet meeting of Siniora's government has been abruptly cancelled. The Cabinet was supposed to vote on a plan to deploy their army into southern Lebanon and to displace Hezbollah. That has now been indefinitely delayed -- which means that Israel is not bound by the agreement to stop fighting:

A critical Lebanese Cabinet meeting set for Sunday to discuss implementation of the cease-fire between Israel and Hizbullah was postponed, a move that was likely to delay the dispatch of the Lebanese army to the south and an end of the fighting.

A top aide to Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said the meeting had been indefinitely postponed but would give no reason. Published reports said the Cabinet, which approved the cease-fire unanimously Saturday night, had been sharply divided over demands in the cease-fire agreement that Hizbullah surrender its weapons in south Lebanon.

That disagreement was believed to have caused the postponement of the Sunday meeting that was to have taken up the dispatch of some 15,000 troops to the south.

Does anyone not believe that this crisis has been precipitated by Hezbollah's refusal to leave southern Lebanon and disarm? The cease-fire proposal put the onus on them to cease their attacks on Israel and to dismantle their military wing. I warned earlier that such a requirement would eliminate the need for Hezbollah at all; their entire raison d'etre for the Lebanese people has been as a shield against the Israelis. If the Lebanese Army took that function away from them, they just become another terrorist militia, a construct of which the Lebanese have rightly tired.

Nasrallah knew this. He signaled his approval yesterday of the cease-fire but objected to the arms embargo and the disarming of his organization. Perhaps he thought the Israelis would reject it, but when the Israeli Cabinet adopted it unanimously, it looks like Nasrallah had his bluff called.

Unless Siniora gets this resolution adopted in the next couple of hours, Israel will push past the Litani into Bekaa -- and this time they will have the tacit endorsement of the UN Security Council.

Hezbollah fired more than 230 rockets, Israel reported, and several hit the northern port city of Haifa, where at least two people were seriously injured.

The IDF said it carried out more than 100 aerial attacks targeting Hezbollah militants. ...

But the Lebanese Cabinet postponed its meeting Sunday to discuss implementing the resolution, a Lebanese government minister said.

The meeting was postponed one to two days, the minister said, at the request of parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a key negotiator with Hezbollah.

The postponement will give government officials more time to meet with Hezbollah leadership to discuss details of implementing the U.N. resolution, the Lebanese minister said.

That's a different time frame from earlier, when it was postponed indefinitely, but it speaks to the same problem. Berri represents Hezbollah interests, and Hezbollah isn't interested in making themselves obsolete. Instead, they have taken the opportunity to provide the Israelis with an additional 230 reasons to continue operations in Lebanon, although it does follow Israel's successful deployments yesterday to secure points of egress over the Litani for retreating Hezbollah terrorists -- a move Israel should have made weeks ago.

Either Lebanon enforces the UN resolution, or it reveals itself as a puppet of Hezbollah. Either way, the Israelis win, and Nasrallah knows it.

The cabinet then gave themselves 24 hours. They were hoping that the Israeli Cabinet would oppose UN Resolution 1701. Then they would blame it on the Israelis. But when the Israeli Cabinet agreed they decided to postpone today’s emergency cabinet meeting to avoid further internal clashes.

In sum, as Lebanese we are looking and and suffering under a disgusting match of empty rhetoric bathed in lies and hypocrisies. God Help us for these leaders and politicians.

Trackback Pings

» Perhaps We Should Call Them from The Coalition of the Swilling
...HezBALKah CNN's "Late Edition" is reporting that Hezbollah forces south of the Litani River in Lebanon are refusing to lay down their arms when the cease fire goes into effect later today (our time). They are also reporting the Syria... [Read More]

Interesting comment from geezer that is worth highlighting:[...] does the unanimous vote of the multi-party Israeli cabinet (one abstention) to accept or endorse the cease-fire suggest that there was no coup afoot in Israel? Or that the Whit...

» Hezbollah Blinks from Flopping Aces
So it appears that Israel has called Hezbollah's bluff by accepting the cease fire deal given by the UN:
A critical Lebanese Cabinet meeting set for Sunday to discuss implementation of the cease-fire between Israel and Hizbullah was postponed, a m... [Read More]

Tracked on August 13, 2006 12:43 PM

» Interesting developments in Lebanon from Bookworm Room
Again, fairly overwhelming work and family commitments will keep my blogging nonexistent, but there’s interesting stuff in the Middle East as I discovered when I took a break to read up-to-the-minute news and analysis at the Captain’s Quart... [Read More]

Tracked on August 13, 2006 1:01 PM

» Lebanon Having Second Thoughts? from Liberty and Justice
Well, if the Lebanese government will indeed be unable to agree about implementing the resolution, if that will happen, I will retract most of my words about Olmert (be it that he should have ordered the IDF to move in with thousands of ground forces w... [Read More]

Tracked on August 13, 2006 1:09 PM

» The Fate of Cowards from The Real Ugly American.com
Be either being complicit in Hezbollah’s terrorist attacks, or too cowardly to face the Hezbollah terrorists in his midst it appears Mr. Siniora may have condemned his country to years of chaos and destruction.
... [Read More]

» August 22 - End of the World -12th Imam - Muhammad from planck's constant
So what's all the buzz about Muhammad al-Mahdi, August 22nd, and our favorite raving lunatic President of Iran?
For those who know their Islam, the 12th Imam, al-Mahdi died 1100 years ago but is still living and in hiding and will appear before the ... [Read More]